Sesame Street leads to Chinese digital platforms

Baidu's iQIYI, Tencent Video and Alibaba's Tmall Box Office are all adding the US preschool series Sesame Street to their digital platforms for online viewers in China.

"Sesame Workshop is committed to reaching kids where ever they are and providing content to help them grow smarter, stronger and kinder," said Shirley Yi Zhu, Sesame Workshop's global VP and executive director for China.

"We have a strong network of partners: Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, who have similar missions and who are offering an engaging content experience that extends the laughter and learning of Sesame Street to families throughout China."

The international version of Sesame Street and its spin-offs, dubbed into Mandarin, will be available on all three platforms, although Tencent Video will become the first online video site in China to release Elmo the Musical, the Sesame Workshop and the CBeebies co-production The Furchester Hotel. Tencent will also deliver Sesame Street Seasons, Elmo's World, Play With Me and Let's Celebrate Chinese New Year, which is co-produced by CCTV.

The same content will also become available on Alibaba's recently launched video-on-demand (VOD) service Tmall Box Office (TBO).
iQIYI and Alibaba will provide consumers with a Sesame Street-branded block with history, character biographies and the latest brand news – as well as the programmes.